Governments indulging in abuse and repression, including the US, are avoiding human rights legislation and international justice by hiding behind the principle of national sovereignty, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns in a report today.

Abusive practices throughout the world, including Afghanistan, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories, has got worse as governments cling to the concept of non-interference . The US, specifically by secretly rendering prisoners to Guantánamo Bay, has abdicated its traditional role as defender of human rights, it adds.

The 546-page report, the latest annual survey by HRW, says Barack Obama's administration will have to put human rights at the heart of foreign, domestic and security policy if it is to undo what it calls "the enormous damage" of the George Bush years.

"For the first time in nearly a decade, the US has a chance to regain its global credibility by turning the page on the abusive policies of the Bush administration," said Kenneth Roth, the HRW executive director. "The new Obama administration must abandon the Bush administration's policy of hyper-sovereignty.

"As a vital first step, Barack Obama and his team should radically rethink how they fight terrorism. It's not only wrong but ineffectual to commit abuses in the name of fighting terrorism or to excuse abuses by repressive governments simply because they're thought to be allies in countering terror."

Obama should also commit the US to the international criminal court, he said.

The report alleges that countries such as Algeria, Egypt, and Pakistan, supported by China, Russia, India and South Africa, defend the prerogative of governments to do what they want by making claims of sovereignty, non-interference or regional solidarity.

Washington has been unable to respond effectively, even where it seeks to uphold human rights, because of its recent record of abuses, mostly committed in the name of countering terrorism, and because it has forsaken effective multilateral diplomacy in preference for an "arrogant exceptionalism".

That report says that, in the name of African solidarity, South Africa, along with Algeria, Egypt and Libya, backed a campaign to stop the prosecution at the international criminal court of the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, who is accused of mass murder in Darfur.

In what HRW calls a "misplaced southern solidarity", India failed to speak out against repression in Burma, harbouring a "deeply ingrained view that conflates international rights with colonialism".

The report notes that after last June's ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israel continued to restrict the availability of basic goods and the provision of essential services. Imports were 30% of what Israel had previously allowed. Exports remained completely barred.

"Israel is Gaza's major source of electricity and sole source of fuel, so its restrictions on their supply cripple transportation as well as water pumping, sewage, and sanitation facilities."

Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces tortured detainees during interrogation, sometimes leading to their deaths.

Afghanistan, it adds "is experiencing its worst violence since the fall of the Taliban government. Widespread human rights abuses, warlordism and impunity persist, with a government that lacks the strength or will to institute necessary reforms. Corruption and an escalating cost of living are affecting millions."